Seeking an owner of a Sverdlovsk light meter

Hi guys,

 

Anyone of you has a Sverdlovsk light meter? I would very much appreciate if you

could give me some pictures of the circuitry - photos or drawings. How the

metering works.

 

I want to make an exposure meter, and the one LED indication seems very good to

me. Also the wide variety of batteries that the Sverdlovsk work with...

 

So please, if you have one at home, would you be so kind and take some pictures

of the inner circuitry for me ? Thanks.

Dear Ondrej:

 

I am an owner and user of three different Sverdlovsk light meters (S-2 earlier modification, S-4-home and S-4-export versions).

 

Also I have the circuitry for the S-2 from the book and figured out that (or those - being different only slightly) for the both S-4s, as I had to disassemble all of them for cleaning and repair (the S-4-exp.v. is still dead because of a burnt transistor).

 

Not today, sooner tomorrow, I may e-mail to you at least the circuitry, and perhaps some other useful stuff, as I saw and knew the inside of the device and even drew the element arrangement on the printed-circuit. I also know the difference between the 3 Sﾒs. May I know which version have you or you are mostly interested in?

 

I am a passive Photo.net-Forum user, being in a shadow and regularly checking the Classic Cameras Forum as I am (unlike you - I visited your page in search for your e-mail) a long-long-term 6x6 format- (and maybe) folder-aholic (now using mainly the pre-WWII German 6x6 & 6x4.5 Welta Weltur with a 5-linsig Xenar 2.8/75 (Tronnier Sonnar formula) in Compur Rapid, and am happy. Another alternative is a 4-linsig Xenar 2.8/75 (Tessar formula) for this same camera (from a broken one) which can also be used when the front lens rear slightly polished (because of fungus residue etching and matting, otherwise the lens is nice) and properly shim-adjusted. That is a project though. Also have and use the Lubitel-166B and the Salut-S with Vega-12B. No Leica format any longer after my Zenit-E failed for ever in the mid-70s, no digital yet. Sometimes I feel this latter like missing. E.g. now I am not able to show you the printed-circuit and elements shoot, rather scanned or hand drawn.

 

Once I've registered at the Photo.net but unfortunately cannot find now the name/password to use the frame there. Therefore, please, just reply me back and acknowledge the receipt of this message. I've checked now the thread - no contribution yet. Believe you are still in need of the requested.

 

One more question: can you read in Russian? I mean the possibility of scanning for you the whole page (not only circuit) which contains some useful information on the device operation and design which I never found in the sources in English. Though I am not quite sure it is in Russian, may be in Ukrainian. That does not matter for me, but it may do for you? I will check tomorrow in the library.

My location: Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Regards,

 

Anatoly

 

P.S. FOUND! I mean the password. To save time, no changes above. Just inserting it as is and as e-mailed. Looking to your e-mail.

I studied Russian for two years with a prof of a prestigious college (she was my girlfriend). I learned to read and write it (even the script) but to this day I can't understand it!. Apparently you have to speak it regularly to properly understand it. If you have a good dictionary it is not too difficult to make a rough translation, but there words and phrases that have no direct English equivalent.

Hi Ondrej:

 

Glad to hear from you. I have just taken the book from the library and scanned the required pages. I need some time to crop and perhaps resize them to prepare for sending. Just wait, please. In addition I have to search for the related material in my computer (the photo archive is about 2 Gigs), and it is not an easy job. The pages are in Russian, the book published in Kyiv though. Moreover, I have also to keep in mind those in the Forum who might need the Sverdlovsk details too (there is a size and format restriction there).

 

The time difference between our countries is about 1 hour, I will stay here (at my job office, no comp at home) until 22:00 Ukrainian, 21:00 yours. And for sure, I will send the files today. I see your project clearly, and the problems you face, too. I appreciate your choice of the FSU RFs, I like them too very much. But I am not very much inclined of using focal shutters since I had severe problems with these in the past. Now (and in the past too)I prefer using a Compur style. They are much more reliable. At least those classic.

 

By the way, I am not only folder aholic, but this of RFs too. They are both reliable and very convenient in many cases, in most amateur cases I would say.

 

And again, IMO a good detached (stand alone) light meter is much better and more flexible in use than the built-in one. BTW, the Sverdlovsk circuitry is rather complicated and it will be difficult (if at all possible) to integrate it at any of the FSU RFs.

 

Bye so far,

 

Anatoly

Dear Ondrej:

 

I have sent to you 7 files, some comments maybe needed. First of all I am sorry for the average quality of the scanned stuff � had no time to rescan and improve it. Still the resolution is rather fair and enough to see the layout and read the text freely.

 

Sverdlo2.gif --- Here I am to mention that this file is taken from the Russian source at http://phototech.by.ru/accesories/sverdlovsk2.shtml, you may freely download it (thanks to the Russian guys) from http://phototech.by.ru/accesories/img/sverdlovsk2.gif.

 

Sverdlo2.jpg --- scanned by me today from the book by D.S.Gurlev �Photography reference book (shooting)�, Technika Publs., Kyiv � 1989, 319p. (in Russian) --- at page 89.

 

Page88.jpg, Page88.jpg, Page88.jpg --- pages from the above book describing the Sverlovsk type photometers makes 2 and 4 (general features, performance and characteristics). The circuitry difference between makes 2 and 4 is little (in the picture you see that of Sverlovsk-2). Sverlovsk-4 (which is smaller, lighter and more stable) differs major in the replacement of four silicon diodes D223 (used as voltage stabilizers) with the silicon transistors KT315 n-p-n type (with the base-collector barrier short-circuited), that add some to temperature and voltage stability. P-n-p transistor KT203B is changed for KT361 (which is identical in appearance � unlike KT203B which is quite different from both - with KT315 though different in conductivity). Their pin arrangement is also different. Also Sverlovsk-4 is lacking 1M (1MOhm) resistor shunting the photo-receiver. Also there are minor differences in the values of some resistors. Variable resistors are different in design and cannot be interchanged. Mind that 3 diodes D9D are germanium type. And finally the photo-receivers are a bit different in design and sensitivity, I believe, - hence different scale positions for calibration. Otherwise they are very similar. Even less difference is between the S-4 home and export makes, though exists.

 

Another two files --- S4-printed-circuit(drawn).jpg and S4-pc_withsomecomponents.jpg --- are drawn-by-me-printed-circuit, just to understand the element connection and the layout. I am sorry the second is not finished (lacking time) yet, still you may grasp the idea and further my efforts using the first file as a template.

 

For the photo-net guys I attach here Sverdlo2.gif and maybe, if accepted, the second file Sverdlo2.jpg, just for comparison, and both for the archives too as I suppose hardly one of you (maybe Dan Flanders may fresh up his Russian?) has the opportunity to browse the Russian sources. The first file Sverdlo2.gif is downloadable from the site I mentioned above. No other attachments here. In case anyone in the forum needs some of the afore-mentioned files, please, never hesitate and e-mail to me.

 

Happy shooting to all of you, ROGER,

 

Anatoly